FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


BY 


MAHALAH  JAY. 


Read  at  a  conference  of  Ministers  and  Workers  at 
Earlhain  College,  Richmond,  Indiana, 

8  Mo.,  1891. 


PRICE:  SINGRE  COPIES  5c  ;  30  CTS  A  DOZEN. 
$2.00  A  HUNDRED. 


Publishing  Association  of  Friends. 

Chicago,  Ire. 

1891. 


MISSIONARY  BIOGRAPHIES. 


i2mo,  160  pages,  fully  Illustrated,  cloth. 

Extra,  each  $.75. 

We  commended 
this  series  in  our  last 
issue,  and  a  further 
examination  leads  us 
to  renew  our  com¬ 
mendation,  and  to 
urge  the  placing  of 
this  series  of  Mission¬ 
ary  books  in  all  our 
Sabbath  School  libra¬ 
ries. —  Missionary 
Herald. 

These  are  not  pans 
of  milk,  but  little 
pitchers  of  cream. con¬ 
densed  from  bulkier 
volumes. — Dr.  A.  T. 
Pierson. 

1.  Griffith ,  John ,  Founder  of  the  Hankow  Mission, 
Central  China.  By  William  Robson. 

2.  Robert  Moffat ,  the  Missionary  Hero  of  Kuruman. 
By  David  J.  Deane. 

3.  James  Chalmers ,  Missionary  and  Explorer  of  Raro¬ 
tonga  and  New  Guinea.  By  Wm.  Robson. 

4.  William  Carey ,  the  Shoemaker  who  became  a 
Missionary. 

5.  Robert  Morrison ,  the  Pioneer  of  Chinese  Missions. 
By  Wm.  J,  Townsend. 

6.  Bishop  Patteson ,  the  Martyr  of  Melanesia.  By  Jesse 
Page. 

7.  Samuel  Crowther,  the  Slave  Boy  who  became  Bishop 
of  the  Niger.  By  Jesse  Page. 

8.  Thomas  J.  Comber ,  Missionary  pioneer  of  the  Con¬ 
go.  By  Rev.  J.  D.  Myers. 

9.  Missionary  Ladies  in  Foreign  Lands.  By  Mrs.  E. 
R.  Pitman. 

10.  John  Williams ,  the  Martyr  of  Polyuesie.  By  Rev. 
James  J.  Ellis. 

11.  James  Calvert ,  or  from  Dawn  to  Dark  in  Fiji. 

12.  Henry  Marty n.  By  Jesse  Page. 

Address, 

PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION  OF  FRIENDS 

170  Madison  St.,  Chicago,  Ii,l. 


FRIENDS’  WORK  IN  FOREIGN 
MISSIONS. 


A  missionary  is  one  sent  out  on  an  er- 
i  and.  or  with,  a  message.  The  term  is 
applied  specially  to  those  who  bear  the 
Gospel  message  to  them  who  have  it  not. 

The  first  Christian  missionaries  were 
sent  out,  I  take  it,  when  Christ  sent  forth 
his  disciples  two  and  two  to  preach  ‘  ‘The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.” 

Christ  did  not  divide  his  field,  which 
is  the  world,  into  “mS&x  missions”  and 
s ‘foreign  missions,”  but  he  bade  his  dis, 
ciples  to  take  it  all  for  him,  his  final 
charge  to  them  being,  “Go  ye  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every 
creature.”  We  have  adopted  the  terms 
“home”  and  “foreign”  for  our  conven¬ 
ience  in  describing  the  location  of  work, 
applying  the  term  “foreign  missions”  to 
work  outside  the  territorial  limits  of 
our  own  goverment,  and  “home  mis¬ 
sions  to  that  within.  The  terms  are 
convenient  but  I  sometimes  think  it 


4 


would  be  better  if  we  did  not  use  them 
at  all,  the  dividing  line  between  them 
has  little  connection  with  the  character 
of  the  work,  and  some  seem  to  think 
that  what  is  “foreign”  does  not  concern 
us  but  belongs  to  some  one  else  to  look 
after,  forgetting  the  language  of  Christ’s 
command,  and  not  considering  the  mill¬ 
ions  outside  of  Christian  lands  to  whom 
we,  as  much  as  anybody  else,  are  under 
obligations  to  carry  the  Gospel;  and  some 
thinking  of  “home”  as  our  village,  our 
meeting,  our  house,  narrow  down  the 
idea  of  “home  missions”  about  to  do¬ 
ing  for  themselves;  though  here  in  our 
own  broad  land  are  elements  that  make 
it  one  great  mission  field.  Here  are 
the  Indians,  Negroes,  Mexicans,  that 
belong  here:  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  degraded  foreigners  yearly  landed  on 
our  shores,  and  their  descendants;  and 
the  vast  numbers  of  poor  and  friendless, 
and  ignorant  and  vicious  born  and  grown 
up  in  our  midst,  to  all  of  whom  Christians 
have  duties  and  responsibilities  almost 
overwhelming.  Mission  work  embraces 
all  these  and  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term 


5 


is  the  great  work  of  Christ’s  converted 
children,  the  work  he  committed  to  his 
church  on  earth  to  do. 

It  is  humiliating  when  we  think  of  the 
centuries  passed  since  the  commission 
was  given  and  no  greater  advances  made 
in  the  work;  but  it  is  for  us  to  look  for¬ 
ward  and  not  back,  and  set  about  our 
own  duty. 

As  servants  of  Christ  we  acknowledge 
our  duty  of  obedience  to  his  commands; 
as  Friends  what  is  the  position  we  occu¬ 
py?  Some,  even  of  our  pious  and  spirit¬ 
ual  members,  have  said  “Friends  are  not 
to  be  expected  to  go  into  mission  fields 
as  other  denominations  do.  We  speak 
the  words  of  life  to  others  only  at  the  di¬ 
rect  call  of  the  Master,  and  cannot  en¬ 
gage  ourselves  for  years  of  service  in 
mission  fields.”  “We  are  not  a  proselyt¬ 
ing  people.”  Such  objectors  may  be 
honest  but  they  are  under  mistake  both 
as  to  the  teaching  and  practice  of  the 
founders  of  our  branch  of  the  church. 
They  misapply  a  precious  doctrine  and 
testimony  of  Friends  as  to  the  immediate 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Head  of  the  church. 


6 


Would  any  of  them  say  that  the  choice 
of  our  life-  work  and  the  location  of  our 
field  of  labor  should  not  be  as  fully  un¬ 
der  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as 
the  particular  words  of  doctrine  or  testi¬ 
mony  that  should  be  uttered  at  any 
time?  Paul  not  only  journeyed  from  place 
to  place  as  the  Spirit  bade  him,  in  his 
missionary  work,  but  under  the  same 
leading  abode  for  months  or  years  in  a 
place  as  at  Corinth  and  Ephesus.  If  we 
so  restrict  our  application  of  this  princi¬ 
ple  how  could  a  George  Fox,  Daniel 
Wheeler  or  Sibyl  Jones  prepare  for  long 
journeys  and  labors  in  distant  lands  in 
the  cause  of  Christ  ? 

If  we  are  not  a  proselyting  people,  as 
that  word  is  generally  applied,  we  were 
originally  and  ought  to  have  remained 
an  evangelizhig people.  Christ  command¬ 
ed  “Go,  and  make  disciples  of  all  the 
nations.”  (R.  V.)  George  Fox  exhort¬ 
ed  Friends  to  “be  faithful  and  spread  the 
truth  abroad,  and  write,  speak,  and  send 
books  abroad  into  other  countries  and 
islands  and  nations  or  main  land,  as  ye 
^  ^noved.”  To  Friends  in  America 


7 


he  wrote,  “All  Friends  everywhere  that 
have  Indians  or  Blacks,  you  are  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  them,  if  you  be  true  Chris¬ 
tians.”  ....  “And  also  3^ou  must 
preach  the  grace  of  God  to  all  Blacks 
and  Indians.”  ....  “You  must 
instruct  and  teach  your  Indians  and 
Negroes  and  all  others,  how  that  Christ 
by  the  grace  of  God,  tasted  death  for 
every  man  and  gave  himself  a  ransom 
for  all  men,”  .  .  .  and  many  other 

such  like  exhortations.  No  church  was 
more  a  missionary  church  than  Friends 
in  their  rise.  We  read  of  them  journey¬ 
ing  and  preaching  not  only  in  countries 
nearer  England,  but  in  Asia,  Africa, 
America,  and  the  West  Indies.  It  was 
only  when  and  where  they  drew  away 
from  this  broader  work  to  cultivating 
almost  exclusively  the  little  garden  of 
their  own  denomination,  and  with  intro¬ 
verted  gaze  lost  sight  of  the  claims  of  the 
world  outside,  that  they  ceased  to  be  a 
missionary  people.  And  let  their  dimin¬ 
ished  membership  in  those  days  and 
places  witness  to  the  effect.  Eet  the 
division  that  rent  them  in  twain  attest 


8 


the  correctness  of  Dr.  Duff’s  oft- quoted 
declaration,  ‘ ‘The  church  that  ceases  to  be 
evangelistic  will  soon  cease  to  be  evan¬ 
gelical.”  Pools  of  water  confined  in  nar- 
now  limits  become  dead  and  pestilence¬ 
breeding.  It  is  the  water  in  motion, 
though  sometimes  it  roars,  and  dashes, 
and  tears,  and  does  damage  and  needs 
restraint,  that  is  the  living,  health-giving 
water. 

With  the  exhortations  of  George  Fox, 
and  the  teaching  and  example  of  Will¬ 
iam  Penn,  and  others,  before  them, 
Friend^  in  America  never  entirely  lost 
sight  of  their  duty  toward  the  Indians 
and  Negroes.  Friends  of  Baltimore  and 
Philadelphia  Y  early  Meetings  began  work 
for  special  tribes  of  Indians  belore  the 
close  of  the  last  century.  Baltimore 
Yearly  Meeting  had  a  care  over  the  Shaw- 
nees  in  Ohio,  in  which  the  yearly  meet¬ 
ings  of  Ohio  and  Indiana  took  part  after 
they  were  set  up,  the  personal  manage¬ 
ment  of  the  work  at  length  devolving  on 
Indiana,  from  which  Western  Yearly 
Meeting  had  not  then  been  set  off. 

When,  about  1833,  the  Government  re- 

% 


9 


moved  these  Indians  to  Missouri  Terri¬ 
tory,  the  then  “Far  West,”  within  the 
limits  of  the  present  state  of  Kansas, 
Friends  followed  them  to  their  new  home, 
at  that  time  as  remote  from  civilization 
and  difficult  of  access  as  now  are  many 
foreign  lands,  with  the  present  improve¬ 
ment  in  modes  of  travel  and  communi¬ 
cation.  Their  efforts  to  civilize  and  ed¬ 
ucate  them,  to  train  them  to  industrious 
habits  and  an  upright  life,  and  teach 
them  to  read  the  Bible  and  reverence  the 
Great  Spirit,  were  not  without  immedi¬ 
ate  results  of  blessing  to  the  Indians,  and 
no  doubt  prepared  Ihe  way  for  the  suc¬ 
cess,  in  many  cases,  that  has  attended 
the  later  work  among  them.  Friends 
continued  their  care  of  this  tribe  of  In¬ 
dians  for  full  seventy  years,  till  in  the 
settling  up  of  Kansas  the  need  and  the 
opportunity  for  their  mission  there  both 
passed  away.  Friends’  care  for  the  In 
dians  of  our  country  has  never  ceased. 
It  is  now  continued  under  the  “Associat¬ 
ed  Executive  Committee’  ’  of  all  the 
yearly  meetings,  in  connection  with  our 
Government,  and  by  the  aid  of  smaller 


IO 


associations  and  voluntary  organizations 
amongst  Friends.  Thousands  of  Indian 
children  have  received  education,  literary 
and  industrial,  wholly  or  partly  under 
their  care.  In  Indian  Territory  there  are 
now  established  three  monthly  meetings 
of  Indian  Friends,  embracing  fifteen 
meetings  for  worship,  with  an  Indian 
membership  of  nearly  four  hundred. 
Fifteen  Friends,  seven  men  and  eight 
women,  now  reside  as  missionary  work¬ 
ers  among  them.  Much  remains  to  be 
done  and  we  need  to  inform  ourselves 
about  this  work,  and  gird  up  our  loins 
still  for  this  service,  which  belongs  espe¬ 
cially  to  Christians  of  America. 

Also  to  the  colored  people  Friends  have 
endeavored  to  be  faithful.  They  did 
what  they  could,  often  at  great  risk  of 
life  and  property,  in  the  time  of  slavery; 
and  after  the  civil  war  Friends  were  for¬ 
ward  among  those  who  hastened  to  enter 
the  South  and  establish  day-schools  and 
night-schools,  Bible-schools  and  preach¬ 
ing  amongst  the  “freedmen.”  The  work 
of  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  soon  centered 
near  Helena,  Arkansas,  in  which  place 


philanthropic  and  missionary  labor  has 
been  continued  for  twenty-eight  years. 
Among  the  visible  results  to-day  are  two 
meetings  for  worship  among  the  colored 
people,  one  monthly  meeting,  two  re¬ 
corded  ministers  and  two  not  regularly 
recorded,  all  in  active  service;  a  member¬ 
ship  of  about  two  hundred,  though  not 
nearly  all  of  them  now  reside  at  these 
meetings;  and  Southland  College  and 
Normal  Institute,  which  received  last 
year  as  boarders  one  hundred  colored 
youth  and  as  many  more  as  day  students. 
Some  provisions  are  made  for  the  indus: 
trial  training  of  these  in  useful  arts  and 
occupations,  but  the  training  of  teachers 
has  been  the  end  most  sought  by  the 
school  and  most  widely  productive  of 
blessing  to  the  colored  people.  The 
teachers  trained  here  are  reported  to  be 
among  the  very  best  obtainable  for  col¬ 
ored  schools  in  the  South,  and  through 
them  many  thousands  of  children  have 
already  shared  indirectly  the  benefits  of 
Southland  Normal  Institute.  Other 
yearly  meetings,  notably  Philadelphia 
and  New  York,  have  done  more  work 


12 


for  the  colored  people  and  expended  very 
much  more  money  on  them  than  has 
Indiana  Yearly  Meeting.  We  speak 
more  of  its  work  because  it  comes  closer 
home  to  this  particular  gathering,  and 
needs  and  deserves  our  present  attention 
and  interest. 

Foreign  Mission  work,  strictly  speak¬ 
ing,  Friends  in  America  have  been  slow 
to  take  up,  partly,  we  believe,  because 
they  had  such  a  weight  of  domestic  work 
among  the  Indians  and  Negroes  lying  at 
their  very  doors,  but  chiefly,  I  fear,  from 
inexcusable  lethargy  and  indifference  to 
.  the  subject. 

Nor  were  English  Friends  much  earlier 
to  enter  foreign  fields.  Three-quarters 
of  a  century  had  passed  after  William 
Carey  published  his  “Inquiry  into  the 
Obligations  of  Christians  to  Use  Means 
for  the  Conversion  of  the  Heathen,  ’  ’  and 
other  religious  denominations  began  to 
wake  up  to  their  duty,  before  English 
Friends  put  forth  any  organized  effort  in 
the  cause,  though  there  were  many  in¬ 
stances  of  individual  concern  and  action 
at  an  earlier  date.  In  1865  the  first 


13 


Friends’  foreign  mission  association  was 
formed  in  England.  In  1866  their  first 
regular  foreign  missionary,  Rachel  Met¬ 
calf,  was  sent  to  India,  where  she  con¬ 
tinued  most  faithful  in  the  work  till  her 
death  two  years  ago.  In  1869,  Elkanah 
and  Irene  Beard  from  America  joined  her, 
but  after  about  two  years  were  compelled 
by  reason  of  ill  health  to  return  home. 
The  work  begun  in  Benares  was  after¬ 
ward  removed  to  Hoshangabad  near  the 
Nerbudda  where  Friends  now  have  a 
large  district  containing  several  millions  of 
people  open  to  them  for  missionary  work. 
The  number  of  missionaries  has  been  in¬ 
creased  till  now  sixteen  Friends  are  en¬ 
gaged  in  India,  and  four  stations  within 
a  compass  of  one  hundred  miles  are  occu¬ 
pied.  In  his  visit  to  these  missions  two 
years  ago,  F.  Sessions  writes  that  “three 
things  came  to  him  like  a  revelation;  1. 
The  comparatively  large  and  good  work 
already  done  in  India.  2.  The  awful¬ 
ness  of  heathenism;  the  unspeakable 
licentiousness  of  it.  They  do  religiously 
crimes  which  the  religious  atmosphere 
of  Christian  countries  restrain  the  wicked 


from  doing.  3.  The  open  door  God  has 
set  before  us.” 

In  1867  this  English  foreign  mission 
association  sent  Joseph  S.  Sewell,  and  two 
American  Friends,  Eouis  and  Sarah 
Street,  to  Madagascar.  They  did  not  at 
first  set  up  a  separate  mission  but  worked 
with  the  missionaries  of  the  Eon  don  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society.  As~the  work  grew  it 
becam'e  necessary  to  divide  the  province 
over  which  these  missionaries  had  care, 
into  districts,  one  of  which  with  an  area 
of  about  two  thousand  square  miles  was 
allotted  to  Friends.  These  districts  all 
centered  in  Antananarivo,  the  capital  of 
the  island.  At  the  time  Joseph  Sewell 
took  this  charge  there  were  six  chapels 
or  Christian  churches  in  his  district.  The 
number  has  increased  till  Friends  now 
have  the  care  of  about  one  hundred  and 
forty  churches,  and  their  educational  and 
publishing  work  have  become  very  ex¬ 
tensive.  They  have  also  joined  with  the 
London  Missionary  Society  in  carrying- 
on  a  medical  mission  and  hospital  in 
another  part  of  the  island. 

Through  the  visits  of  our  American 


i5 


Friends,  Eli  and  Sibyl  Jones,  to  Syria  in 
1867-8-9,  English  Friends  became  intei- 
ested  in  missionary  work  there,  and  two 
missions,  and  several  schools  besides  in 
outlying  villages,  have  been  established 
by  them.  The  more  extensive  one,  the 
Brumana  mission  on  Mt.  Eebanon,  was 
opened  in  1874.  Theophilus  Waldmier, 
a  Syrian,  a  devoted  missionary  and  min¬ 
ister  is  at  the  head  of  this  mission.  A 
Friends’  meeting  is  established  there  and 
both  a  boys’  and  girls’  training  home, 
and  a  medical  mission  with  a  hospital 
and  a  dispensary  from  which  as  many  as 
six  thousand  patients  a  year  have  re¬ 
ceived  treatment  for  physical  ailments, 
in  giving  which  they  always  strive  to 
give  some  word  of  counsel  or  teaching 
that  may  reach  the  soul’s  need.  The 
other  mission  is  at  Ramallah,  ten  miles 
north-w est  of  Jerusalem.  It  has  its  train¬ 
ing  home  for  girls,  its  medical  dispensary, 
etc.,  very  similar  to  the  Brumana  mission, 
only  less  extensive.  From  the  first, 
Friends  of  New  England  Yearly  Meet¬ 
ing  joined  with  English  Friends  in  sup¬ 
porting  these  missions.  About  three 


16 

years  ago  they  divided  the  field,  English 
Friends  taking  entire  charge  of  the  Bru- 
mana  mission,  and  New  England  Friends 
of  that  at  Ramallah,  which  they  have 
named  the  “Eli  and  Sibyl  Jones  mission.” 
The  maintainance  of  this  is  now  the 
special  work  of  New  England  Yearly 
Meeting. 

Later,  English  Friends  added  to  their 
foreign  mission  work  a  medical  mission 
among  the  Armenians  in  and  near  Con¬ 
stantinople,  also  a  mission  in  Chungking, 
China,  the  chief  feature  of  which  is  its 
dispensary  with  the  use  of  the  oppor¬ 
tunities  it  gives  for  administering  also  to 
spiritual  maladies.  English  Friends  have 
pushed  out  rapidly  in  foreign  mission 
work  during  these  twenty-five  years 
since  they  laid  their  hands  to  it,  till  now 
their  work  and  their  contributions  com¬ 
pare  well,  in  proportion  to  their  numbers, 
with  the  work  of  the  larger  denomina¬ 
tions  of  Christians  which  have  been  long¬ 
er  in  the  field.  At  the  last  annual  meet¬ 
ing  of  their  Foreign  Mission  Association 
the  following  summary  of  their  mission¬ 
aries  was  given.  Sixteen  Friends  cosi- 


i7 


nected  with  the  mission  work  in  India, 
twenty-one  in  Madagascar,  four  in  China, 
ten  in  Syria,  three  in  Constantinople  and 
three  among  the  Zulu  Kaffirs,  making  a 
total  of  fifty-seven  Friends  at  present  at¬ 
tached  to  the  various  missions.  Besides 
these  they  have  ten  others  who  have  been 
accepted  by  the  committee  with  a  pros¬ 
pect  of  going  out.  They  feel  that  with 
whatever  misgivings  they  at  first  parted 
with  valued  Friends  for  whom  there  was 
a  sphere  of  great  usefulness  at  home,  the 
result  has  been  that  the  church  at  home 
is  richer  through  those  that  have  gone 
abroad .  Its  sympathies  have  been  widen¬ 
ed  and  extended  abroad,  and  also  there 
has  been  increased  usefulness  at  home. 

In  reviewing  the  foreign  mission  work 
of  American  Friends  through  organized 
effort  we  begin  with  the  work  in  Mexico, 
for  our  Friends  that  went  out  earlier  to 
India  and  Madagascar  went  out  under 
the  care  and  support  of  English  Friends. 

Twenty  years  ago  this  summer  Samuel 
A.  Purdie  offered  himself  for  missionary 
work  in  Mexico,  to  a  small  body  of  mem¬ 
bers  ot  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  who  had 


i8 


voluntarily  formed  themselves  into  an  as¬ 
sociation  to  encourage  foreign  mission 
work.  He  was  accepted,  and  in  Eleventh 
Month,  1871,  went  into  Mexico,  opening 
work  on  a  very  small  scale  in  the  state  of 
Tamaulipa?,  which  state  borders  on  the 
Rio  Grande  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Three  years  later,  the  work  having  out¬ 
grown  the  resources  of  this  little  organi¬ 
zation,  they  offered  it  to  their  yearly 
meeting,  which  accepted  it  and  appointed 
a  foreign  mission  committee  to  look  after 
it,  which  it  has  continued  to  do  for  these 
nearly  seventeen  years.  This  is,  I  be¬ 
lieve,  the  oldest  foreign  mission  organi¬ 
zation  among  Friends  in  America.  The 
work  in  Mexico,  which  is  now  extended 
nearly  the  whole  length  of  the  state  oi 
Tamaulipas,  has  included  the  publishing 
of  a  missionary  paper  from  almost  the 
first,  also  school  books  and  translations 
of  religious  books  and  tracts.  As  many 
as  a  half  a  million  pages  annually  were 
printed  on  the  mission  presses  for  several 
years,  and  though  less  is  now  being  done 
in  the  publishing  department  it  is  still 
one  of  the  great  instrumentalities  in  car- 


19 


rying  on  the  work.  Six  monthly  meet¬ 
ings  of  Mexican  Friends  have  been  es¬ 
tablished,  and  frequent  meetings  are  held, 
and  religious  instruction  given,  at  a  num¬ 
ber  of  other  points.  The  members  attend¬ 
ing  these  meetings  at  any  one  time  have 
not,  perhaps,  reached  two  hundred,  but 
numbers  more  have  been  received  into 
membership  and  afterwards,  in  the  pros¬ 
ecution  of  their  business,  have  removed 
from  the  vicinity  of  the  meetings.  A 
larger  number  still  of  others  are  frequent 
listeners  to  the  preaching  of  Friends.  Six 
Mexican  Friends  are  duly  recorded  min¬ 
isters. 

Schools  have  been  carried  on  in  con¬ 
nection  with  every  settled  station  of  the 
mission.  The  largest  and  best  organized 
is  the  girls’  school  at  Matamoros  which 
occupies  the  building  which  C.  G.  Hus¬ 
sey,  of  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  donated  $4,000  to 
build.  It  has  for  several  years  enrolled 
from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  eighty  pupils,  engaging  four 
and  sometimes  five  teachers.  It  has  a 
boarding  department  or  training  home 
under  the  management  of  a  matron  from 


20 


the  North,  which  receives  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  girls  and  furnishes  a  home  for  the 
teachers.  The  boys’  school  at  Matamo- 
ros  has  not  been  so  continuous  or  suc¬ 
cessful,  but  with  the  aid  of  Philadelphia 
Women’s  Board  there  has  been  there  the 
last  year  a  good  school  enrolling  about 
sixty  pupils.  The  schools  at  Victoria  are 
next  in  importance.  The  boys’  school 
there  is  supported  by  Friends  of  Balti¬ 
more  Yearly  Meeting,  the  girls’  school 
by  Friends  of  New  York  Yearly  Meeting. 
The  schools  at  the  other  stations  are 
much  smaller. 

In  bearing  the  expense  of  this  mission 
Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  has  received  help 
from  all  the  yearly  meetings  of  Friends, 
or  from  members  of  them,  on  this  conti¬ 
nent  and  in  England  and  Ireland,  though 
now,  since  taking  up  foreign  mission 
work  of  their  own,  several  of  the  yearly 
meetings  no  longer  contribute  to  this 
work.  The  Foreign  Mission  Committee 
oi  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  has  paid  out 
annually  for  the  support  of  this  mission, 
for  eight  or  ten  of  the  last  years,  sums 
ranging  from  $3,000  to  $5,000,  exclusive 


21 


of  the  expense  of  the  printing  depart¬ 
ment.  The  Women’s  Foreign  Mission 
Association  of  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting, 
since  its  organization  in  1883,  has  raised 
over  $10,000,  nearly  all  of  which  they 
have  used  in  Mexico,  the  girls’  school  in 
Matamoros,  Hussey  Institute,  being  their 
especial  charge. 

Western  Yearly  Meeting,  for  awhile 
working  with  Indiana  in  the  Mexican 
work,  and  being  the  largest  outside  con¬ 
tributor  to  its  funds,  afterwards,  in  1886, 
opened  a  separate  mission  in  the  city  ot 
Mexico,  and  after  nearly  three  years’ 
work  there,  removed  it  to  Matehuala,  in 
the  state  of  San  Luis  Potosi,  adjoining 
Tamaulipas  on  the  southwest.  There  K. 
G.  Taber  and  wife  and  Ivillian  A.  Neiger 
opened  again  their  mission.  Though 
this  is  yet,  as  it  were,  in  its  infancy,  they 
seem  to  have  gained  a  permanent  foot¬ 
hold.  A  church  has  been  organized 
which  now  has  about  twenty  members, 
and  a  school  of  fifteen  to  eighteen  pupils 
is  established.  A  native  evangelist  from 
the  Friends  of  Tamaulipas  has  also  re¬ 
cently  been  working  in  connection  with 


22 


this  mission. 

Other  yearly  meetings  have  directed 
their  efforts  to  different  parts,  Iowa  to 
Jamaica;  Ohio,  through  her  Women’s 
Board,  to  China;  Kansas  has  taken  Alas¬ 
ka  for  her  special  field;  New  England,  as 
before  mentioned,  has  charge  of  the  Eli 
and  Sibyl  Jones  mission  in  Palestine; 
North  Carolina  has  supported  pupils  in 
the  Friends’  mission  schools  in  India  and 
Mexico;  Canada  has  helped  other  mis¬ 
sions,  but  also  for  three  years  has  sup¬ 
ported  her  own  missionaries  in  Japan  in 
connection  with  the  mission  of  the  Phil¬ 
adelphia  Women’s  Board.  Every  yearly 
meeting  has  now  made  some  commence  • 
ment  in  foreign  mission  work. 

The  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary 
Union  of  Friends  in  America  embraces 
the  associations  of  women  in  ten  yearly 
meetings,  with  an  aggregate  member¬ 
ship  of  about  four  thousand.  About 
three  thousand  children  are  organized 
into  Foreign  Mission  Bands  or  Societies. 
The  Boards  composing  this  Union  have, 
since  their  rise,  raised  altogether  over 
$100,000.  They  have  either  taken  the 


23 


support  of  a  special  part  of  the  work 
already  organized  in  their  respective 
yearly  meetings,  or  have  supported 
scholars  in  mission  schools,  or  teachers 
or  Bible  readers  connected  with  the  mis¬ 
sions;  and  two  of  the  Boards  have  opened 
new  missions,  those  in  Japan  and  China; 
but  their  greatest  work  has,  perhaps, 
been  done  at  home,  as  may  in  coming 
years  appear,  in  stirring  up  the  minds  of 
many  to  their  duty  in  regard  to  foreign 
mission  work,  and  in  enlisting  and  train¬ 
ing  the  children  for  it.  The  oldest  of 
these  associated  societies,  that  of  Western 
Yearly  Meeting,  is  not  yet  quite  ten 
years  old;  the  youngest,  that  of  New 
York,  three  years  old.  One  of  the  num¬ 
ber,  the  Philadelphia  Women’s  Board, 
formed  eight  years  ago,  though  unrecog¬ 
nized  by  their  yearly  meeting,  has  sup¬ 
ported  a  missionary  in  Mexico,  a  village 
school  and  a  Bible  reader  in  Syria,  and 
founded  and  equipped  with  suitable 
buildings  and  appliances,  a  flourishing 
mission  in  Japan,  besides  many  smaller 
works.  They  have  done  more  translat¬ 
ing  and  publishing  of  suitable  mission- 


24 


ary  literature,  supported  more  mission 
work,  and  raised  more  money  than  any 
other  foreign  mission  organization  of 
Friends  in  America  except  Indiana  Year¬ 
ly  meeting,  and  for  the  time  they  have 
been  organized  they  have  outstripped  her. 

There  are  at  the  present  time,  if  my 
information  is  not  at  iault,  twenty- five 
Friends  attached  as  missionaries  to  for¬ 
eign  missions  of  American  Friends,  besides 
a  considerable  number  of  native  workers 
that  also  receive  support.  All  their  for¬ 
eign  mission  work,  you  will  observe,  is 
in  its  incipiency,  is  just  begun.  I  thank 
God  that  it  is  begun,  and  that  Friends 
have  at  length  taken  their  place  in  this 
greatest  movement  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  But  how  shall  the  work  be 
carried  forward,  when  so  many  are  in¬ 
different  about  it?  How  shall  the  needed 

I 

missionaries  and  money  be  obtained? 
There  is  not  one  of  our  stations  the  effi¬ 
ciency  of  which  might  not  be  increased 
by  more  funds  and  better- trained  workers; 
and  there  are  almost  unlimited  openings 
to  us  for  more  missions  and  more  mis¬ 
sionaries  among  the  heathen  millions  of 


25 


the  world.  And  these  are  dying,  thous¬ 
ands  daily  dying,  without  having  heard 
of  salvation  through  Christ.  Their  lives 
consumed  in  lust  and  violence  and  other 
sins,  are  passed  in  bitter  bondage  to  fear, 
and  end  *  in  despair  and  gloom.  They 
grope  in  darkness  for  want  of  the  light 
we  have  but  neglect  to  carry  to  them, 
saying  in  act  if  not  in  word,  “Am  I  my 
brother’s  keeper?”  Yet  how  had  it  been 
with  us  had  no  missionaries  of  the  Gos¬ 
pel  gone  to  seek  out  and  teach  our  wild 
ancestors  in  gloomy  forests  and  marshes? 
‘  ‘What  hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not  re¬ 
ceive?”  Spurgeon  has  well  said,  “The 
question  is  not  whether  the  heathen  can 
be  saved  without  the  Gospel,  but  whether 
we  can  be  saved  if  we  do  not  give  it  to 
them.” 

This  subject  ought  to  address  itself  to 
just  such  persons  as  make  up  this  con¬ 
ference,  the  workers  of  the  church.  It 
is  for  you  to  teach  the  people  something 
of  the  unutterable  need  of  the  heathen, 
their  duty  toward  them  and  their  obliga¬ 
tion  to  obey  Christ’s  great  command.  It 
is  yours  also  to  teach  them  how  each  may 


26 


do  his  part.  Not  every  one,  not  one  in 
a  hundred,  perhaps,  is  called  to  the  for¬ 
eign  field,  but  all  can  be  co-workers 
therein  by  their  encouragement  of  others, 

by  their  gifts  and  their  prayers,  and  by 

% 

doing  the  work  in  the  home  field  when 
these  are  called  away  from  it.  The  Mo¬ 
ravian  church,  by  far  tbe  most  mission¬ 
ary  church  of  Christendom,  has  one 
missionary  out  for  every  sixty  church 
members.  How  would  it  startle  the 
thirty  thousand  of  us  ease-loving,  self¬ 
providing  members  of  Indiana  and  West¬ 
ern  Yearly  Meetings  if  suddenly  every 
sixty  of  us  were  made  responsible  for  the 
support  of  a  missionary.  If  that  duty 
were  assigned  to  every  six  hundred  of  us 
would  we  think  we  could  carry  the  bur¬ 
den?  And  yet  we  could  easily,  and  we 
would  grow  stronger  by  doing  it  if  to  a 
willing  mind  were  added  right  ideas  and 
proper  training  on  this  subject.  If  pa¬ 
rents  were  trained  to  deem  it  possible  and 
even  to  desire  that  some  of  their  children 
might  be  honored  with  Christ’s  call  to 
this  service,  and  habituated  themselves 
and  their  children  to  this  thought — if 


27 


meetings  rejoiced  to  see  some  of  their 
members  drawn  to  the  foreign  field,  and 
were  ready  to  encourage  them  and  aid 
them  in  the  expense  of  preparation — for 
preparation  is  needed — and  hold  up  their 
hands  with  love  and  prayer,  and  money 
when  they  went  to  the  work,  how  much 
better  the  foreign  field  would  soon  be 
supplied  with  missionaries  than  now! 
And  do  not  think  it  would  take  away 
from  the  work  of  building  up  the  church 
at  home  and  gathering  the  lost  into  the 
fold.  It  would  help  that  work.  “The 
church  that  prospers,”  says  Dr.  Moffat, 
“is  the  missionary  church,  and  just  in 
proportion  as  it  is  missionary  will  it  pros¬ 
per.”  Is  it  asked  how  to  hold  young 
converts?  “Set  them  to  work  for  others,” 
is  one  of  the  best  prescriptions. 

But  do  we  really  believe  that  this  is 
the  Lord’s  work,  or  is  there  in  our  hearts 
unconfessed,  perhaps  even  to  ourselves 
unknown,  disbelief  of  it?  How  do  we 
read  such  passages  as  these — to  whom 
apply  them?  “Behold,  all  souls  are 
mine.  ”  “A  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles.  ’  ’ 
“They  shall  declare  my  glory  among  the 


25 


Gentiles,”  or  nations.  ‘‘For  my  name 
shall  be  great  among  the  heathen,  saith 
the  Lord  of  Hosts.”  ‘‘Look  unto  me 
and  be  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

I  have  sworn  by  myself,  the  word  has 
gone  out  of  my  mouth  in  righteousness 
and  shall  not  return,  that  unto  me  every 
knee  shall  bow  and  every  tongue  shall 
swear,”  or  ‘‘confess.”  And  of  God’s 
love — ‘‘Gave  his  only-begotten  Son  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not 
perish.”  ‘‘Not  willing  that  any  should 
perish.”  ‘‘Whosoever  shall  call  on  the 
name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved.” 
‘‘How  then  shall  they  call  on  him  in 
whom  they  have  not  believed?  and  how 
shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they 
have  not  heard?”  Of  Christ’s  word — 
‘‘Other  sheep  I  have  which  are  not  of 
this  fold,  them  also  must  I  bring  and 
they  shall  hear  my  voice.”  And  of  our 
risen  Lord’s  authority  and  command¬ 
ment  with  promise — ‘‘All  power  is  given 
unto  me  in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Go  ye 
therefore  and  make  disciples  of  all  the 
nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  name  of 
the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the 


29 


Holy  Ghost:  teaching  them  to  observe 
all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded 
you:  and  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway  even 
to  the  end  of  the  world.” 

In  the  light  of  these  texts,  what  is  the 
church’s  duty?  Dr.  Arthur  T.  Pierson 
answers:  “The  church  has  no  duty  com¬ 
parable  for  a  moment  with  the  duty  of 
witnessing  for  its  Master  and  Savior 
among  those  who  know  him  not.”  Shall 
we  accept  the  answer? 

To  recapitulate:  We  have  endeavored 
to  show  (i)  That  Friends  acknowledge 
their  obligation  of  obedience  to  Christ’s 
command.  (2)  That  they  were  originally 
a  missionary  church.  (3)  That  they  suf¬ 
fered  loss  from  the  decay  of  the  mission¬ 
ary  spirit.  (4)  It  has  notably  revived 
among  them  within  the  last  twenty-five 
years.  ( 5)  A  brief  outline  of  the  foreign 
mission  work  carried  on  by  Friends.  (6) 
Its  influence  is  in  the  direction  of  revivi¬ 
fying  the  body.  (7)  It  is  God’s  will,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  Scriptures,  as  well  as  the 
church’s  highest  good,  that  it  go  forth 
into  all  the  nations  under  Christ’s  great 
commission. 


Our  Missionary  Friend 


Eight  Pages ,  Quarterly ,  Well  Illustrated . 


This  paper  contains  a  Missionary  and  a  Temperance 
Eesson,  and  is  well  adapted  for  distribution  on  the  5th 
Sabbath  of  the  month.  New.  Just  the  paper  for  Juve¬ 
nile  Mission  Bands.  Sample  Sent  Free.  Price  :  when 
four  or  more  are  sent  to  one  address,  per  year,  6  cents 
each  ;  per  quarter,  1  y2  cents. 


Our  Youth’s  Friend. 


A  16  Page  Monthly  Illustrated  Journal  for 
Boys  and  Girls. 


The  departments  consist  of  Stories,  Temperance,  Social 
Etiquette.  Chit-Chat,  Music,  Home  Recreatious,  etc 
Our  Youth’s  Friend  stands  pledged  to  sustain 
morality  and  religion,  and  will  scrupulously  guard  its 
columns  in  their  interests. 

Prices — Single  copies,  40  cts.  per  year  ;  in  clubs  of  four 
or  more  toone  address,  20  cts.  each,  per  year;  per  quarter, 
6  cts.  each;  160  or  more  copies  for  one  year,  18  cts  each. 


Eight  Page  Edition  of  Our  Youth's  Friend. 

This  edition  is  made  up  of  the  illustrated  temperance 
and  religious  articles  of  the  regular  edition,  and  is  well 
adapted  for  distribution  in  Sabbath  schools.  It  contains 
about  twice  as  much  reading  matter  as  is  usually  found  in 
Sabbath  School  papers,  at  a  much  less  cost. 

Price — In  clubs  of  four  or  more  copies  to  one  address, 
12  cts.  each,  per  year  ;  per  quarter,  3  cts.  each.  100  or 
more  copies,  per  year,  10  cts.  each. 

Publishing  Association  of  Friends. 

170  Madison  St.,  Chicago. 


